Time Well Spent

The past two years, in this masters program, have been such a whirlwind for me. While it now seems to have went by so quickly, it also felt like I would never reach the finish line. I have felt various emotions throughout this journey and have been challenged in ways I did not expect. I have surprised and even impressed myself, and have discovered a deep passion for politics along the way. A few major things that I learned during this journey are:

1.) That I CAN create positive social change if I put my mind to it. This capstone project has really challenged me to dig deep to produce quality work and I am really pleased with my accomplishments. I see now that if I work hard, I can make a difference in this field. I am now equipped with the tools necessary to make an impact in the field of early childhood education.

2.) That I must be an advocate for children, families, and the early childhood education field to continue to move early education forward. "Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five. If we don't begin thinking about education in the early years our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start kindergarten" Robert L. Ehrlich. I think that it is important to continue to push for early education reform here in the United States and that is something that I will actively do and encourage my peers to do as well.

3.) That we must work towards equity across the board and ensure that anti-bias education is being implemented on all levels of education. It is so important in today's world that we embrace diversity, celebrate culture, and teach our children to love each other. I feel that this must happen so that the hate we are seeing around the country will be eradicated.

Looking forward, I have quite a few goals set for myself. The major goal that I hope to accomplish in the future is to work in politics at the state level here in my home state of North Carolina. NC really needs education reform and I feel that I can be a great advocate for early education. This capstone project has really allowed me to discover myself and realize the passion that I have for creating political change. I am grateful to have discovered such a passion within myself.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their support throughout this journey. You all have questioned me and caused me to rethink my own ideas, forced me to think outside the box, and have provided me with great ideas and feedback. A large part of this program has been discussions and I am so happy that I had the chance to communicate with all of you throughout this journey. I wish you all the best of luck as you begin to walk down a new path and hope that if I can help you in the future, that you will not hesitate to contact me.

I would also like to thank Dr. E, who has really helped me out these last eight weeks. You have challenged me in so many ways and have pushed me to think more, learn more, and work harder. I really appreciate all of the guidance that you have provided me with during this course and hope that I will get the opportunity to work with you in the future when I return back to Walden to pursue my Ed.D.

Moving forward, when working with children, I hope that everyone remembers to let their children be little. Let them get messy. Let them ask a million questions. Remember that according to Albert Einstein, "play is the highest form of research." Let's all embrace this fact and help raise the best little learners that we can.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

In the past I have noted organizations or communities of practice that I feel are beneficial resources on both the state and federal levels. Now, I have researched for resources on the international level. Below are the organizations that I feel the most passionate about.

• UNICEF - The United Nations Children's Fund - I chose UNICEF because I really respect and appreciate the work that they do and the values that they represent. This organization is active across 190+ countries and territories and is part of the Global Movement for Children, "a broad coalition dedicated to improving the life of every child." UNICEF promotes girls education, child protection and social inclusion, child survival such as health, nutrition, clean water, and HIV, education, gender equality, and emergencies and disasters. 

On the website, www.unicef.org, there are many career opportunities posted and available at various spots around the world. The position that interests me is a position for a Senior Child Protection Specialist (Child Marriage) in New York. While I do not have any experience in child marriage, it is something that really interests me and evokes strong feelings for me. This position requires an advanced degree is social services, education, international relations, or public health, along with 10 years of relevant experience. It is also required that applicants be fluent in English as well as one other language. 

• ISSA - The International Step by Step Association - The mission of ISSA is the support professional communities and develop a strong civil society that promotes high quality education, inclusion, and respect for diversity. I like this organization because they work very closely with UNICEF, among other well respected organizations, and raise awareness for a variety of issues, develop resources for practicioners, pilots and evaluates programs, and strengthens alliances. There were no career opportunities posted on the website but more information about ISSA can be found at www.issa.nl

• FHI 360 - This organization was formed when teams of experts from Family Health International and Academy for Educational Development merged. I chose this resource because I love how broad of a spectrum is covered with this organization, whose mission is to "improve lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions for human development." Issues addressed by this organization include civil society, gender, health and nutrition, environment, and education. With regards to education, they focus on education in emergencies, girls education, English language learners, teaching and learning, technology for education, and international exchange and scholarship programs. They are currently working on support for education and instruction in the Republic of South Sudan, strengthening basic education in El Salvador, teacher training in Liberia, and a reading program in Malawi. 

There are several career opportunities listed on the website, located at www.fhi360.org. These jobs include a variety of specialties across the globe, from nutrition specialist in Nigeria to project director in Atlanta, Ga. Personally, I found the project director position to be very intriguing. This person is responsible for leading a team to help with the development and implementation of the Four Pillars PLUS project in Nigeria. It requires a masters degree in social science, gender studies, international development, or education, as well as strong computer skills. Experience in this arena is a plus but not required, making it within reach for me. 

Overall, I found that there are many international resources devoted to the further development and advocacy for quality early childhood education. I found the three listed above to be the most interesting to myself and hope that everyone else will find them useful as well.